Stocks take a late tumble as retail suffering continues

A late slump Friday pulled stocks to their third straight weekly loss.

Companies that make clothing, food and household goods dropped on more bad news from retailers, and energy companies fell with the price of oil.

Stocks started falling just before noon and continued to slump the rest of the day. Machinery and equipment companies took some of the biggest losses. Retailers fell again after Nordstrom and J.C. Penney became the latest department store operators to report plunging first-quarter sales. Bond prices jumped and yields fell, which hurt bank stocks.

“The rebound and recovery rally has largely run its course,” said Mike Ryan, chief investment strategist for UBS Wealth Management Americas. With investors worrying about weak corporate profits, the health of the global economy and the Federal Reserve’s plans, Ryan said, “it’s going to be more of a grind” in the coming months.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 185.18, or 1.05 percent, to 17,535.32.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 17.50, or 0.85 percent, to 2,046.61.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 19.65, or 0.41 percent, to 4,717.68.

The S&P 500 has fallen 2.2 percent over the last three weeks, bringing the index back almost to breakeven for the year.

Wrapping up a brutal week, Nordstrom gave retailers yet another gut punch when it slashed its annual projections and said a key measure of sales fell for the first time in almost seven years. Nordstrom stock tumbled $6.07, or 13.4 percent, to $39.16 and hit a four-year low. J.C. Penney’s and Dillard’s also reported results that came up short of analysts’ estimates.

A Commerce Department released Friday confirmed that consumers are spending more, just not at department stores. Sales at those stores have fallen 2 percent over the last year while online and catalog sales have jumped 10 percent. Nordstrom tumbled 19 percent this week, while Macy’s and Kohl’s, which reported first-quarter results earlier in the week, fell 17 percent and 14 percent.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Stocks take a late tumble as retail suffering continues."